July-August 2015

Just before the sand dunes between Beer Milka and Kadesh Barnea, which are home to many species of animals, are to be converted to agricultural land, we received permission from the Nature and Parks Authority to collect animals inhabiting the area. The collection was carried out in mid-June and the beginning of July. The animals were collected, measured, their details documented and they were transported to the Zoological Garden.

The growth rate of deer antlers is the fastest in the animal world: the cell division and growth rate of the antler's cells are similar to those of cancer. The growth process of the antler is under hormonal control, and the antler ceases to grow at the beginning of the reproduction season, with the rise in the level of testosterone. At this stage begins the peeling phase of the ‘velvet’ – the highly vascular skin that covers the antler.

We are already in mid-summer – hot and dry, and there is no exciting news to report from the main lawn of the Zoological Garden. The reproduction season is long over, ending with the departure of the yellow-legged gulls. We believe they'll return in the winter, as they do every year.